Merging two very divergent branches using git? -

i have master branch , verydifferentbranch these had same ancestor ... 300 commits ago. verydifferentbranch feature complete i'd put under master branch. doing rebase results in every single patch having lot of merge conflicts, point large project unto go through conflicts.

i have no idea except force pushing head of verydifferentbranch master branch. i'd losing history doing this, , that's not want do.

what other options?

it sounds history looks this:

...---o---a---o---...---o---o---b   master            \             o---o---...---o---c     verydifferentbranch 

you worried losing history if force push verydifferentbranch master. such operation throwing away after a , b.

you can preserve history merging it, or dropping tag @ abandoned branch tip , leaving unmerged.

use merge

a merge allow keep both sides of history:

...---o---a---o---...---o---o---b            \                     \             o---o---...---o---c---m  master 

the kind of merge determine content created commit m. normal merge (using recursive merge strategy) sounds produce large number of conflicts in case. if need incorporate changes a..b commits, there nothing else work through conflicts presented either merge or rebase. (in future have fewer problems if can merge or rebase more deal conflicts arise.) but, if want m have same content c (i.e. want ignore changes represented a..b commits), can use ours merge strategy.

git-merge(1) describes ours merge strategy:

this resolves number of heads, resulting tree of merge of current branch head, ignoring changes other branches. meant used supersede old development history of side branches. note different -xours option recursive merge strategy.

you can produce m message of merge commit 'abandoned/foo-features' this:

git tag -m 'describe reason abandonment here...' \     abandoned/foo-features master                   # tag abandoned branch tip git checkout verydifferentbranch                    # checkout dominant branch git branch -m verydifferentbranch master            # replace master git merge -s ours abandoned/foo-features            # merge other's history git tag -d abandoned/foo-features                   # optional: delete tag git push wherever master tag abandoned/foo-features # publish them 

variations on these commands give different automatic commit messages m (you can supply own git merge -m or amend git commit --amend afterwards).

the main point resulting master have both pieces of history, none of changes original master side (those changes still in history, not represented in tree referenced commit m).

leave hanging

if acceptable “rewrite” master (i.e. there no other work based on of commits a..b, or users involved not mind work take recover rewrite), leave tag @ current tip of master , replace master verydifferentbranch.

...---o---a---o---...---o---o---b   (tag: abandoned/foo-features)            \             o---o---...---o---c      master 

arrange so:

git tag -m 'describe reason abandonment here...' \     abandoned/foo-features master                    # tag abandoned branch tip git branch -m verydifferentbranch master             # replace master git push wherever +master tag abandoned/foo-features # publish them